Researcher on the flight from Stockholm: "There are restrictions in a big city"

For the first time in 15 years, more people choose to move from Stockholm County than to the county, and the families of children stand out in the statistics. With regard to Stockholm municipality, the same trend, with more emigrants than immigrants, has been seen since 2014.

Matz Dahlberg, professor of economics at Uppsala University, believes that the Stockholm housing market may be an explanation.

- When you start to have a larger family, it is difficult to get hold of large housing, it is both expensive and few. We have a situation where the elderly remain in large housing when the children have moved. An alternative is that you go to the crane municipalities and find larger housing there, if you are also prepared to commute.

In Sweden, the migration flows are generally driven by the labor market and studies, especially if you move far, according to Matz Dahlberg.

- Exactly where you choose to locate within a labor market region, given that you decided to move to one, is driven by more local things, such as quality of school, access to child care, proximity to nature.

In a study at Umeå University, Emma Lundholm, an associate professor and associate professor of cultural geography, studied data on all families with children who moved out of metropolitan regions during the years 2003-2013. The conclusion is that there is an overrepresentation of highly educated.

- It's not strange considering that highly educated people are more mobile. If you have already moved once to study, you are more likely to move again, says Emma Lundholm.

However, it was not true that there would be persons with flexible jobs, who can work from home, that dominate among the emigrants. Instead, there is a clear overrepresentation of people working in the public sector. This can be interpreted in two ways, according to Emma Lundholm.

- They may have the greatest opportunity to choose to live elsewhere because that type of job exists in other regions. If you are a teacher, nurse or doctor you can find a job.

The second interpretation is that the group is being forced out of the housing market.

- Compared to other highly educated, they may not have as high salaries.

Emma Lundholm and her colleagues have just started a study where they will ask families with children why they choose to move from the big cities.

- We have a hypothesis that it may have to do with the organization of everyday life and the housing market. There are restrictions in a big city. This group may find it difficult to get together the accommodation you want and the everyday life you want to live.